Fuyu
by tanpopo no hana
Summary: Kenshin wouldn't get sick, would he? At least he himself is sure that Ex-Hitokiri don't come down with anything serious... (KK)
1. ichi

Welcome to my first ever attempt at fan fiction. I've been reading fanfics for quite a while now, but I somehow never got around to writing one myself. Well, until now that is. Since I have an important report to finish until the end of this month it naturally was the perfect time to start. Geez... I'm such a workaholic. But I figured writing might be a nice alternative to sleeping. ;o) I have to seriously warn you though: English is not my first language, so this might be an assault to your reading skills. Grammatical errors will probably haunt you. But whoever is brave enough to stay and read: Enjoy ^_^  
  
'...' = thoughts "..." = speech  
  
(I know that in English both of the quotation marks are supposed to be in the *upper* corners, but I haven't been able to figure out yet how to tell my computer to do it that way (well, actually I haven't really bothered to), so you will have to live with it I guess.)  
  
One more thing: I've only seen a few early episodes of the Rurouni Kenshin anime! My story is based on the Manga! *hugsManga*  
  
Disclaimers: I don't own anything. Watsuki-sama had all the ideas...  
  
Chapter 1:  
  
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Kenshin awoke to the sound of chirping birds just outside his room. The sun hadn't fully come up yet. He could tell because the light that filtered in through the shoji was of a misty grey. Even by just looking at it one could feel that it was going to be a cold day.  
  
He sighed. Since it was January and his room was cold enough to make his breath visible above his blankets there wasn't really any need telling the temperature by looking at the light.  
  
Winters in Tokyo were just as cold as in Kyoto.  
  
He really missed the snow though. Here on the east cost of Japan the sky was usually a crisp blue during the winter months with little clouds to bring any real quantity of it. In the back of his mind he wondered why on earth he actually missed it.  
  
He could vividly recall images of himself standing opposite Hiko for hours, knee-deep in the white stuff, trying - futilely - to avoid his masters attacks. He had really hated it back then. Hiko hadn't exactly been the sympathetic type of teacher. If he had let him come inside before his whole body had turned so numb that he wasn't even able to tell anymore if he was still cold and wet, it had been a rare occasion.  
  
Kenshin sighed again.  
  
Great. Now he was starting to pity himself. Silently a little amused at himself he had to smile.  
  
It was almost a full year since he had first set a foot into the Kamiya dojo. He couldn't believe time had run so fast. When he had told Kaoru-dono that he was indeed a little tired of his wanderings and that, if she didn't mind it, he would stay for a while, he hadn't meant for this *while* to extend over a longer period than one month. Yet here he was.  
  
'Kaoru-dono'  
  
Smiling again he decided it was time to get up. She would be pretty upset if she woke up to find that there was no breakfast ready.  
  
In one fluid motion Kenshin swung the covers of his futon aside and sat up. The moment he moved however, a wave of dizziness swept over him. Taking a deep breath he steadied himself, fighting the urge to just lay back down. Frowning he blinked and waited for the feeling to pass. Once he felt sure his futon had stopped turning in circles he carefully stood up. Again he felt the world perform a few spectacular moves around him. Breathing hard, angry with himself, he used all his willpower to force the floor to stand still again.  
  
It seemed to work. Breathing in and out slowly he wondered what was wrong with him. He had never really been a person to get sick easily. With the exception of one time while he had been training with Hiko (well, twice maybe, if one counted those horrible mushrooms...) he couldn't recall ever having anything more serious than a little cold. This was ridiculous!  
  
Determined that he wouldn't let a little dizziness get in the way of his chores he started his morning routine.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Kaoru turned over on her futon lazily. Shivering she pulled her covers up over her nose and tried unsuccessfully to fall back asleep. Listening to the sounds around her she could hear distant snoring. That meant Yahiko was obviously still sleeping. Breathing a sigh of relieve she turned over once more. If he still slept, why shouldn't she?  
  
She felt a cold breeze at her neck and tried to pull the covers back in place. Just to immediately feel the same at her left foot. Thoroughly annoyed, she attempted to get the unruly blanket around it without moving too much to allow any new loopholes for the air around her.  
  
Squeezing her eyes shut even tighter Kaoru tried to ignore the light filtering through her blanket, which by now covered her whole face. Getting up on cold mornings like this was just the worst thing ever. Maybe there was a way she could just stay like this for the whole day. On the other hand, it definitely *was* getting a little hard to breath. Lifting the blanket up a bit she inhaled deeply just to have her lungs protest at the sudden intrusion of the icy air.  
  
'Mmmm... this is no fair. Why can't it be summer all year?'  
  
Sighing she finally decided it was absolutely no use to try to go back to sleep anymore. Cautiously opening one eye she looked out under her covers to find her room already lit brightly with the light of a cold winter sun.  
  
Trying to get up without actually dropping the blanket she thought of the day lying ahead and decided she would start training right after breakfast to warm up. Frowning she remembered Sanos comments from the day before about her being unable to stand a little chilly air.  
  
'That big freeloader! Dares to make fun of me. Of course. After he comes here to stick his feet under *our* kotatsu, after filling his stomach with warm food that *Kenshin* prepared...'  
  
'Kenshin'  
  
At the thought of him she somehow started to feel a little warmer immediately. Yesterday she had watched him chop firewood for about two hours without seeming to be able to get enough of how peaceful his face looked, of how graceful his body moved. Of course she had tried not to be too obvious in her staring. Actually she even thought she had done a perfect job at stealing unsuspicious glances at him every few minutes. But then Yahiko had managed to land three swings at her in quick succession. And while she had furiously been pondering if chasing him up a tree would be worth leaving the spot from which she was able to have a good look at Kenshin, Sano had passed her, a wicked grin plastered on his face. His comment about the beautiful, but dangerous view today had prompted her to chase him out of the gates instead. Much to Yahiko's amusement.  
  
Kaoru frowned. She didn't know what irritated her more. The taunts or her own inability to act more mature and just ignore them. Why did she have to be so impulsive and act like a child every time? But she just couldn't stand it when the comments hit too close to home... what was she supposed to do? Blush and look at her feet? Surely that would only prompt them to taunt her even more.  
  
Sometimes she thought it was hopeless. It was no wonder Kenshin saw nothing more than a little sister in her. And she probably shouldn't complain about being treated like a child when she behaved like one.  
  
Yet sometimes she thought there actually was more than that in Kenshin's eyes. Sometimes when they were able to share a quiet moment together he would look at her with this expression that she couldn't quite place. Of course she would always get her hopes up that he might feel the same way she did. But was it really love that showed in his eyes? One could argue that if Kenshin didn't feel something for her he would have left by now. But he had promised not to leave her again... so maybe he was just trying to keep his promise. Maybe he was just waiting for her to finally fall in love with someone and get married, so that he could leave.  
  
What was she going to do if it was that way? She couldn't imagine ever falling for somebody else. But if Kenshin wasn't interested in her...  
  
'Damn his Rurouni smile.'  
  
There couldn't be a single person on earth harder to read than Kenshin. Looking at his carefree smile sometimes made her want to scream. But on the other hand he was just so darn cute that she actually wondered why she had never lost her self-control and thrown herself around his neck to burry her face in his log hair.  
  
She had the distinct feeling in the back of her mind that all problems would just cease to exist in that precise moment. Maybe she possessed more self-restraint than she actually thought. No, probably it was just fear. She wouldn't be able to stand his rejection.  
  
Shivering Kaoru blinked and looked around her. Her blanket had fallen off and she was standing in the middle of her room staring at the wall. Shaking her head, annoyed at her own reverie, she walked over to where her clothes lay and started dressing.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Kenshin tried to tell himself that he was fine. Psychology worked that way. So he ignored the headache that made it quite hard to think clearly and tried to concentrate on chopping vegetables like he always did. He wouldn't let anything get in the way of his routine. The stability was what he loved about his life at the Kamiya dojo. Well... one of the things he loved about it.  
  
Peacefully cooking for people who were actually happy to have him around seemed to be more than he could ever have hoped for. While he had still been on the road wandering the country he had been sure he would be alone for the rest of his life and die just as lonely one day. Never could he have imagined being at peace with himself again, to be happy to be alive.  
  
But she had worked her magic on him. Yes magic was the right word.  
  
It was probably a miracle that would be needed though, to keep his present condition a secret from her. He couldn't fool himself... his head seemed to be stuck in a thick cloud and his whole body now felt like he had just finished an exhausting fight.  
  
'I have to get a grip on myself; otherwise Kaoru is going to worry. While Sano is probably going to crack up, laughing at me...'  
  
Kenshin was just trying to figure out if he had already added salt to the soup or not when he heard Kaoru's shoji slide open and closed again. Her footsteps were coming closer quickly.  
  
He made sure his back was turned on her before she entered the dining room. Hopefully she was just going to sit at the table and wait for him to bring out the food. Well, not that that was probably going to do any good.  
  
His hopes were brought to an end however when he felt Kaoru slip into the kitchen behind him. He heard her come a little closer to where he stood at the counter.  
  
"Ohayô Kenshin! Is breakfast ready yet?"  
  
"Ohayô Kaoru-dono! Breakfast is almost done. Why don't you sit down and I'll bring it out in just a second."  
  
"Can't I help you with something?"  
  
Kaorus eager face came into his line of vision, as she stood beside him and smiled at his profile.  
  
"That's ok Kaoru-dono. I'm practically done with everything"  
  
"Kenshin? Are you alright?" Oh great... She had caught on even faster than he had feared she might.  
  
"Of course. Everything is fine. Why do you ask?"  
  
"Well, you're not looking at me. And normally you're not holding onto the table while cooking"  
  
He sighted inwardly. This was not going too well. Turning around to face her he smiled at her as convincingly as he managed. "Please don't worry about me. Sessha is absolutely fine!"  
  
"Kenshin you don't look too good. Are you sure you're ok?"  
  
"Yes, as I said, there's no need to worry." With that he took the pot of Miso-soup he had been stirring and carried it over to the table. Taking a deep breath he set it down and closed his eyes for a second. By now his head felt as if somebody had been trying to split it in two. The dizziness had obviously decided to stay around a bit longer as well. He had it under control though. As long as he didn't move too fast or didn't bend his head too suddenly...  
  
He turned around to head back into the kitchen to get the rice. Only to almost run into Kaoru who stood right behind him and looked at him with a stern, almost reproachful face.  
  
"You don't look fine! And don't you go on telling me not to worry! You look pale as a ghost!"  
  
Kenshin stared into Kaorus passionate face and felt his face go from surprised to smiling. This was another reasons why he loved his life here; why he loved her... she was just so caring. Always worried about other people. But he just couldn't stand her worried face. And to think that he was the reason for it made it even worse.  
  
"Maybe you are right Kaoru-dono. I might have caught a little cold. But still it is nothing to worry about. Why don't we start eating?" He smiled his best Rurouni-smile and motioned her to sit down.  
  
He hoped his little admission would calm her down. Actually he was sure it really was nothing more than a cold. Admittedly he had never ever felt this dizzy before but it would surely pass until tomorrow.  
  
Kaoru however didn't move an inch towards the table as he had hoped for. Instead she continued staring at him. Then, suddenly, she took a step towards him instead, so that she stood directly in front of him. He stared into her eyes and felt time slow down. Those deep blue pools seemed to have a very bad effect on his dizziness however, as he started swaying slightly.  
  
When he felt her hand on his forehead goose bumps started erupting at his neck and ran all the way down to his toes. Her hand was so nice and cool. And her touch was so gentle.  
  
"Kenshin!"  
  
Kenshin tried to regain his wits, which was not an easy task since not only his head but his whole body now felt like it was on fire. But when she removed her hand from his head it seemed that at least the room slowed down his spinning a little bit.  
  
"Kenshin! You are burning up! You need to lie down right away! I'm going to send Yahiko to get Megumi."  
  
Kenshin felt her pull at his hand and saw the dining room move out of his view to be replaced by the hallway. They were almost at his room when he realized what she had actually said to him and stopped.  
  
"Kaoru-dono, this is really not nece..."  
  
"Oh yes it is. Kenshin, please. Don't be so stubborn! I'm not going to watch you ruin your health because you don't want to admit that you're not feeling well!"  
  
Kenshin was too surprised at the vehemence in her voice and too distracted by the pain in his head to reply fast enough. So before he was able to come up with a new argument as to why he was not worth all the trouble he found himself standing in his room. Kaoru immediately started to lay out his futon for him, which he had folded neatly in the corner this morning as usual.  
  
This was it though. Feeling his head clear a little. He went over to her, determined to convince her that he was not that sick and lying down absolutely unnecessary.  
  
Just as he wanted to reach for her shoulder to get her attention though, Kaoru turned around in one fast motion to make her way back over to Kenshin, evenly determined not to listen to his feeble protests. Colliding with Kenshin she went stumbling back a step.  
  
Through the thick haze in his head Kenshin saw Kaoru be almost knocked down by his fault. Reaching forward to keep her from falling he suddenly felt the world perform one great somersault.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Kaoru could feel her heart pound hard inside her chest. Kenshin's body was pressed on top of her own and she was sure he must be able to hear it drumming in his ears.  
  
Opening her eyes she stared directly into Kenshin's face, mere inches apart from her own.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Notes: Shoji (well, probably everybody knows): Japanese sliding doors made out of wood and rice paper Kotatsu: A heater under a blanket and a low table to warm your feet and legs. (While your back freezes ;o)  
  
Well, what do you think? Since this is, as I said, my first fan fiction story please let me know if you thought it was any good. I welcome all kinds of criticism, as long as it is not too harsh. (I'm a really sensitive soul, you know, so try not to make me cry...).  
  
Again- please bear with me concerning all the grammatical errors, spelling mistakes and the stuff that might have sounded just plain weird. I'm trying hard, but English is not my mother tongue...  
  
Mata ne + thanks for reading!! 


	2. ni

Ohayô minna san!  
  
Wow... thank you so much for your reviews!! You made my day- I'm so happy people liked my story ^_^ ... hopefully it will stay that way.  
  
I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for this update. I have an excuse though ;o). I'm applying for a scholarship to go to Japan for one year, and all the papers had to be ready on October first... And then my best friend, who lives a few hundred kilometres away from me, came to visit. But I fear that the next update won't be any sooner... I'm not a very fast writer (I always delete half of what I wrote the next day...). And I need to be in the mood to write, so I can't promise any regular updates- especially since my next university term is going to start in 2 weeks. I'll try not to keep you waiting any longer than necessary though :o).  
  
Also thanks for pointing out some of my mistakes (Feel free to do so again with this chappy)! I'm going to correct them one of these days when I find the time!  
  
Disclaimer: I'd never dare to want to own Kenshin. (I only want the right to dream of him ;o)  
  
On with....  
  
Chapter 2:  
  
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The night was quite dark, with thick clouds obscuring the quarter moon and a light, misty rain hanging in the autumn air. The forest around him rustled with the sounds of the night and out of the corner of his eye he could make out an owl, flying low beneath the branches of the trees.  
  
Stopping in his silent run he stared up into the sky. Even if the moon seemed to be hiding from the world tonight some stars could be seen blinking down onto the troubled world.  
  
Kenshin closed his eyes for a second. Someday this would be over. Someday.  
  
Jumping high he landed on the branch of a nearby tree and went absolutely still. He could feel them coming before actually hearing them. Six men made their way through the night as stealthily as possible. When they finally came into his field of vision he quickly measured them and concluded that this was not going to be a hard job. From the way they moved he judged that only two of them were professional sword fighters. They were going to go down first.  
  
Crouching on his branch until the group had almost reached him he took one last look upon the stars and then suddenly and without so much as the trace of a sound jumped down to stand before them.  
  
It was quick. As he had anticipated only two of the group seemed to know what exactly to do with the swords they were carrying.  
  
Nevertheless the blood seemed to be everywhere. And the smell... It assaulted his nostrils. How he hated the smell. It was all around. And as much as he tried he never seemed to be able to get rid of it completely.  
  
He could close his eyes, but there just wasn't a way to escape the smell...  
  
No stars, just the smell of what covered the grass, spotted the trunks of the trees around him and stained his hands and his soul.  
  
No escape...  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Kaoru woke with a start. Everything was dark around her and only the sound of ragged breathing could be heard coming from somewhere in front of her.  
  
Where was she? Did she fall off her futon?  
  
Then it hit her. She was in Kenshin's room; sitting up against the wall, wrapped up in a blanket.  
  
'Kenshin!'  
  
Scrambling over to his futon as fast as she could without falling over the tangled up blanket she sat beside him and stared into his sweaty, sleeping face. He was breathing violently, his eyes moving madly under his closed eyelids.  
  
Obviously he was being haunted by a nightmare.  
  
She could feel her heart clench at seeing him like this. Surely the dream had something to do with the bakumatsu...  
  
Again she felt this terrible need to take him into her arms. Biting her lip she reached forward tentatively and touched him gently at his shoulder to get him to wake up.  
  
But before she could even make out any movement on his part at all, she suddenly felt a very tight grip on her wrist. Kenshin sat upright, staring into her face, a confused and somehow violent gleam in his eyes.  
  
Then she saw recognition wash over him as if someone had just emptied a bucket of ice cold water over his head. Pulling back his hand so fast, one could have gotten the impression her skin had burned him he took a deep breath.  
  
"Kaoru-dono"  
  
"..." Kaoru couldn't answer. She had rarely seen him like this before. His hair was messy, with large strands hanging out of his ponytail, sweat pearls were shining on his reddened skin and his eyes were showing a glimpse of something that normally lay carefully guarded in the back of Kenshin's mind.  
  
'Say something for heaven's sake. Don't just stare at him!'  
  
But before she was able to form any coherent sentence in her mind Kenshin broke the silence.  
  
"Please forgive me Kaoru-dono. Did Sessha hurt you?"  
  
"No! No... Don't worry about it Kenshin! I'm sorry for startling you like this, but I just, well... I wanted..."  
  
Kaoru broke off in mid-sentence and stared at the floor. She could feel her face turning red. What was she supposed to say? That she wanted to rescue him from his nightmare? Somehow it felt like a very private thing to say. And as much as she wanted to be there for him she was scared as to how Kenshin would take her unasked intrusion.  
  
His inner demons were nothing he liked to share with anybody. Especially her. She knew that. But why did he have to be so stubborn about it in the first place? And of course she had somehow managed to give him yet another opportunity to feel guilty about something.  
  
Clenching her fists together in frustration, still staring at the tatami mats, she suddenly felt a light touch on her shoulder and looked up.  
  
Kenshin smiled at her. A true smile. And something in his eyes, in these powerful, deep pools, made Kaoru unconsciously hold her breath.  
  
"Thank you Kaoru-dono. For waking me up."  
  
Smiling Kaoru could feel her heart start to flutter in her chest at the look he gave her. Her eyes slowly wandered downward from his eyes to rest at his lips.  
  
Suddenly a memory of earlier this day came back to her and her heartbeat sped at another few beats. Quickly she directed her gaze at something less dangerous to her puls.  
  
'Great! My face must be as red as Kenshin's gi!'  
  
But as hard as she tried, she just couldn't get rid of the tingling sensation she felt all over her body. Their lips had almost touched...! And he had been so close... she had been able to feel his muscular chest pressed on top of her...  
  
'NO! No no no... stop it Kaoru!'  
  
Shaking her head she pressed a hand to either side of her temples in an attempt to get a hold of her thoughts again.  
  
"Kaoru-dono?? What is wrong?"  
  
Startled Kaoru looked up at Kenshin again. He seemed to be at a loss.  
  
"Are you alright? You're not feeling sick, are you?"  
  
Sick...? Wait a moment. She wasn't sick. And suddenly she remembered what had brought about their sudden closeness this morning in the first place. Fantastic! There just couldn't be a single, more inattentive person on earth than herself! Here she was, sleeping in his room to make sure Kenshin would be all right and she hadn't even asked him how he felt yet!  
  
"How is your fever?"  
  
With that she once more placed her hand on his forehead.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Kenshin stared at Kaoru.  
  
She was sitting on her knees, one hand on the floor to support her weight as she leaned forward, the other hand he couldn't see. But he felt her cooling touch on his forehead, and once again goose bumps slowly made their way down his back.  
  
Shivering he closed his eyes to get a grip of himself. It didn't work very well though... without consulting him first his mind was displaying rather colourful images of himself lying on top of Kaoru this morning. He still couldn't understand how that had happened. Luckily the futon had been there to break their fall... he didn't even want to think about how he could have hurt her if she had hit the floor.  
  
The worst thing however was that his guilt seemed to be overpowered by something else... God- she had been so close!  
  
He felt disgusted with himself for thinking about her in such a way... but the feeling of her petite form underneath him seemed to be etched into his mind.  
  
"Kenshin??"  
  
Opening his eyes he looked into Kaoru's anxious face. He vaguely noticed that the nice feeling on his forehead had vanished.  
  
"Kenshin, did you hear what I said? You need to lie back down! Your fever doesn't seem to have gone down at all!"  
  
With that she began straightening the tangled blankets on his futon.  
  
He stared at her again. For the first time he noticed that she didn't wear her sleeping yukata but was still dressed in her training clothes. Hadn't she gone to bed? His eyes fell onto the blanket that she had dropped in front of his futon.  
  
'Well, that would explain why I woke up staring into her face.'  
  
He could clearly feel his headache coming back and his throat going dry at the thought of her sleeping in his room.  
  
"Come on Kenshin. You look dead tired, lie back down and try to go back to sleep, ok?"  
  
Almost like in slow-motion Kenshin saw her hand coming closer to him. Her touch at his shoulder was barely strong enough for him to notice, but all of a sudden he felt like a leaden weight was pulling him back down onto his pillow.  
  
Why did he feel so terribly tired?  
  
Kaoru had her back turned on him once more while she was working on something that he couldn't see, since it was hidden behind her.  
  
Looking at her he found the thought that she had stayed here with him surprisingly comforting. Smiling a little he thought how people would react to the fact that having a woman watch over his sleep comforted the feared manslayer Battousai.  
  
Closing his eyes the smile on his lips died as he berated himself for his selfish thoughts. Miss Kaoru shouldn't even be here! She should be on her futon, sleeping soundly as she deserved. Instead she was up in the middle of the night, worrying about him - and he of all people was actually having the nerve to just lie back down and go to sleep!  
  
Sitting back up he felt a strange sort of joy as his whole body protested to his movements and the pain in his forehead increased as on command.  
  
'Just what you deserve, Himura!'  
  
"Kaoru- dono, Sessha has to apologize for his rudeness"  
  
Kaoru turned around with a surprised look on her face.  
  
He saw that the thing she had been working on was the little oven that normally belonged into the sitting room.  
  
Staring at it he felt even worse than before.  
  
"What are you talking about Kenshin? Didn't I tell you to lie back down?"  
  
Meeting her gaze he answered: "Kaoru-dono, you shouldn't be doing this. Sessha will be just fine. Please don't trouble yourself like this, you should be sleeping."  
  
Kaoru frowned at him. "And the next thing you're going to tell me is that you will have breakfast ready when I wake up, hm?"  
  
Kenshin opened his mouth to say something, but found he didn't know what answer to give her. Looking away from her face his eyes fell onto the little oven once more. He wondered who had brought it over here. And how on earth could he have slept through something like that?  
  
Sensing Kaoru move towards him he felt the urge to get up and take the oven back to where it belonged immediately.  
  
"Kenshin..."  
  
He felt her hand cup his cheek.  
  
"Kenshin, look at me."  
  
Unable to resist the request, Kenshin turned his gaze back to her face.  
  
"I know what you are thinking... I've known you long enough! And I won't hear any of this crap right now. I'm going to be here for you if you like it or not!"  
  
Before he knew what had happened he found himself back on his futon, both of her hands on his shoulders.  
  
He didn't know why, but looking into her stern face he had to smile.  
  
At least for tonight maybe there wouldn't be any more nightmares...  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Aaah... gomen, gomen!  
  
I apologize to everybody who anticipated a kiss *grin*. Don't worry, if you stay with me long enough you will get one. But I'm not someone to rush things... Hopefully you don't think I simply had no idea how to continue where I left off. I could have done that, but I find it more interesting if the story is not just one straight line- so you're going to learn more about stuff that happened/s through people's memories.  
  
Oh, and to answer animuffin's question: No, I'm not Japanese. (I study the language though... it's really fun!!) I'm from Europe, but I've lived in the US for one year (as an Au Pair). *Waves to everybody from VA* Thanks for your offer to help me! Would you (or anybody else) be interested in prereading any of my chapters?  
  
Again: A huge thank you to everybody who took the time to read! 


End file.
